Dolce
by Addicted2Emmett
Summary: But when I play the music… I no longer feel like a character from a horror movie. The music takes me to another dimension. A fantasy land. And in my musical fairytale, I’m no longer a monster." The effects playing the piano has on Edward. One-shot.


Dolce

My fingers floated over the keys, coaxing a slow, mournful melody from the piano.

I played on autopilot as I marveled at the glow of the ivory keys, the flawlessness of the glossy black paint, and the burnished bronze strings. The quality of this instrument was unmatched.

But while the piano was beautiful to look at, it was its sound that made it so beautiful. The resonance that lay in the polished wood aided the music in its reverberations through the house – it rang like church bells through a deserted city.

I had added an extra pedal to my piano; it was somewhat similar to an upright grand's _una corda. _On a true grand piano, the far left key shifts the dampers up the width of one string, so the sound is thinner and more… magical. But on an upright grand, the _una corda _pedal just makes the sound softer. My vampire strength pulled such a loud sound from the keys, it was often necessary for me to tone it down a little with some outside help, thus the soft pedal.

Jasper had reinforced my keys as a Christmas present a few decades ago, so I didn't need to be overly concerned about denting or breaking them. But although the iron behind the keys is a small factor in the keys' long life, the effect the music has on me is the real reason the keys are so unharmed.

Because when I play, really just succumb to the music, it has a more profound result than anyone would have imagined.

I normally don't care for movies. They're just vague, human dramas, acted out by fake floozies who don't know what they're doing. But Alice and Jasper took me to a film last year that I truly enjoyed. It was a heart-wrenching movie about a little boy living on the streets, who has been discovered to be a musical prodigy. He is brought to Julliard School, and begins writing a rhapsody that is to be performed in Julliard's Concert in the Park, only to be brought back to the ghetto by a man who uses him for his own gain. The movie resolves at the end, and it has an over-all good storyline. But the truly pleasing thing about the movie was not in the plot, but the things said by the main character. In opening the movie, he tells us "I believe in music like some people believe in fairytales."

I believe that as well. I know that I'm a monster. I'm designed to kill, and I have. Too often. But when I play the music… I no longer feel like a character from a horror movie. The music takes me to another dimension. A fantasy land.

And in my musical fairytale, I'm no longer a monster.

The music brings out my other side – traits from a different time. When I play, I'm everything I used to be. Gentle, romantic, _happy_. The bodiless music has the power to drive back the self-loathing, at least until the song is over.

So the piano needn't fear me harming it. I am different person while I play.

The music had shifted while I floated through my fictional world. The changes reflected my mood – the song had swung from measured and woeful to a low, _andante, _beautiful piece. The keys sang out in A major, and I was quick to begin embellishing the melody.

The music was _cantabile, _filling the room with its gorgeous sound. It was loud, but not in a harsh way. It grew to be almost intolerably sweet – _dolce. _

The music was _dolce, _and while I played, so was I.

Author's Notes:

I am a music addict – I take private lessons on the piano and violin, play the cello in school orchestra, play the violin in a county orchestra, sing in my ward and school choirs, and start voice lessons in January! But I realize that most of you are not as big of a freak as I am, so here is a glossary of some of the more musical terms:

Una Corda:  pedal on a grand piano that shifts the dampers up the width of one string so the sound is hollower.

Julliard School: The finest music college there is, Julliard is in New York city. Every aspiring musician (Ahem 'me' Ahem) dreams of attending Julliard.

Rhapsody: A musical composition that is very free, irregular, and emotional.

Andante: A tempo, comes from an Italian word meaning "walking speed".

Cantabile: Italian word for "singing", usually directs how to play a piece or section.

Dulce: Italian word for "sweet/ sweetly", also a musical direction.

I was playing the piano today and an idea came to me that I _really _wanted to write. I am working on four other stories right now and made a promise to myself that I wouldn't write anything new until I finished at least one of them, but I decided that since it was only a short one-shot, it wouldn't _really _be cheating because I would never have to update!

The movie is "August Rush". It is one of my favorite movies of all time – I highly recommend it!

If you guys have not heard of the new age pianist Yiruma, you should really iTunes him and check it out! His stuff is incredible – I am learning to play three of his pieces on the piano! Yay! Anyway, I listened to him the whole time I typed this – "River Flows In You" is the _perfect "_Bella's Lullaby".

Thanks for reading this, and please review whether you liked it or hated it!


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